Four Killings: Land Hunger, Murder and A Family in the Irish Revolution

by Myles Dungan

The story of a single family during the Irish Revolution, Four Killings is a book about political murder, and the powerful hunger for land and the savagery it can unleash. 'A vivid and chilling narrative... Confronts uncomfortable questions that still need answering' Roy Foster 'Marries acute storytelling skills with scholarship, fortified throughout by the author's wry sense of humour' Michael Heney 'Narrative history, told through a unique prism' Irish Sunday Independent 'Dungan knows his history; he also knows how to tell a story... A gem of a book' RTÉ Culture 'Sober and intelligent... Dungan does a fine job of showing that little people can make history too' Business PostMyles Dungan's family was involved in four violent deaths between 1915 and 1922. Jack Clinton, an immigrant small farmer from County Meath, was murdered in the remote and lawless Arizona territory by a powerful rancher's hired assassin; three more died in Ireland, and each death is compellingly reconstructed in this extraordinary book. What unites these deaths is the violence that engulfed Ireland during the war of independence, but also the passions unleashed by arguments over the ownership of the soil.In focusing on one family, Four Killings offers an original perspective on this still controversial a prism through which the moral and personal costs of violence, and the elemental conflict over land, come alive in surprising ways.

Genres: Ireland

325 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 13, 2021

About the author

Dr. Myles Dungan (PhD Trinity College, Dublin, 2012) is a writer, lecturer and broadcaster and is also Programme Director of the annual Hinterland Festival in Kells, Co. Meath. He currently presents the weekly RTE Radio 1 programme The History Show, writes a weekly column (‘Fake Histories’) for the RTE Radio 1 Drivetime programme, and has worked as presenter of various RTE radio and TV programmes for the last thirty years (Five Seven Live, Rattlebag, Prime Time). He is an Adjunct Lecturer in the UCD School of History and is the recipient of two Fulbright Awards. He has taught Irish history in UCD, Trinity College and the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of more than a dozen books on Irish and American history (including Irish Voices from the Great War, How the Irish Won the West and Mr. Parnell’s Rottweiler). In 1985 he co-founded the Dublin Film Festival with film critic Michael Dwyer. He is now masquerading as a novelist

Reviews

[Miriam · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well researched and interesting account of the author’s family and the story around their murders. Even though we all have some knowledge of how bitter the divide became over the treaty, it was fascinating to get the back story and what effect it had for families.

[Nick Garbutt · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a great idea for a book charting a family history over two continents highlighting the link between agrarian violence and land hunger. This is one of Ireland’s darker secrets which remains a taboo subject
It is a pity that Dungan executed such a promising theme so poorly. The book jacket praises his “acute storytelling skills” attributes that I failed to discern. What a pity, it had such promise and I love the idea that so much in Ireland’s past was not what it seemed. To be fair I had just finished Dalrymple when I read this and it suffers in the comparison.

[Thelma Gabbett · Rating 2 out of 5]

Found this to be a difficult and boring read
It was more a history book on 1916 to civil war era. It was hard to follow the family lines

[Eithne Murray · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a thoroughly comprehensive history of the War of Independence. Through the medium of focusing on the experience of his family members this history covers the military effort, the gangland boyos, the land greed and the republican courts. It was a complete surprise to me to read about the graziers and the cattle drives: I had never heard about that before. Reading about the republican court system was also an eye-opener. I only heard about those for the first time in Aidan McQuade's wonderful novel, The Undiscovered Country. (reviewed here).
Initially the writing style drove me mad with its slang and rhetorical flourishes - the 'petit-bourgeosie' ( Who are they?) and 'The cream rose to the top'. ( Wha'? What happened?). However the focus on family sustained interest and was so informative I forgave the author. I couldn't put it down.
There were some shocking figures about the casualties though: 3,000 in the eleven months of the civil war. And no improvement in social or economic circumstances for the poor.

Appropriate I suppose that I read that in Who- Shot -Michael Collins month.

[Misty · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a few other reviewers have stated, this book's cover description sounded amazing but was poorly executed. It's more of a microscopic history of The Troubles, with a little bit of land fights in Arizona thrown in. the cover of this book sounds amazing "land hunger, murder and family in the Irish Revolution", but I feel the author mainly wanted to provide excruciating detail on his family lineage. So many people mentioned extraneously. So little detail on the actual murders. Ironically, at the end of the book the author mentions a piece of prose written by another Irishman and says "it begins with an idiosyncratic and superfluous account of recent Irish history." That's the pot calling the kettle black. I love and read many books about Ireland, both fiction and non-fiction, but I failed to agree with the critics quoted on the cover that it was "vivid and chilling" or "engrossing".

[Colin Parry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read. You don't often get to read about a families experience through part of Ireland's troubled past.

[Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5

[AT · Rating 4 out of 5]

A gripping family history with major relevance for the local and national history of the revolutionary period. Really enjoyed reading this, despite the topic.